27 October 2010

This is how you write a thesis!

On my continued quest to finish my Honours thesis by its deadline I am dedicating a few days of my week solely to its completion.  Yesterday's attempt... was a little unorthodox I admit, but highly effective!

Yesterday (Tuesday) marks a week since I really started writing my thesis.  At the start of the day I had around a meager 1000 words or so... the goal of the day was to not leave until 1000 words had been written.  Doable! (I thought).

It appears however, and this is easily backed up by many of my previous posts, is that I suffer from a severe case of procrastinitis (that word even made it into the urban dictionary, thus proving it is a very real disease =P). I even produced a documentary series of my struggle with the disease about a month ago when trying to write a report.

So, the goal was 1000 words... after sleeping in, getting to Uni late, chatting to Sophie for 2 hours, wandering around Uni, surfing the net, returning to Sophie's office again to chat some more, I had accomplished 200 words before heading home (booyah?). Upon arriving at home I figured I should have a relaxing night.  I made an awesome meal, sat down and had a beer... or two... or three. 

Four beers later I am buzzing immensely haha! I know, let's sit down and write my thesis!

...

I wake up the next day, not really sure what I got up to the night before...

Sigh, I wonder what damage I've managed to do in my drunken blur.  I open up my thesis, not sure what to expect... hmm, I actually have words written?  300 extra words!? Awesome!  Hang on, what's this part?.. they appear to be... song lyrics? Ha ha! Ok so 300 words minus the chorus of "Meatloaf - For Crying Out Loud" and it appears I actually managed to get a decent paragraph or two. 

A tad short of my 1000 word goal but words nonetheless.

I get to Uni, sit at my PC, hoping desperately that the day doesn't become a repeat to the previous.  By this stage I am looking at 2500 words in total... I need at minimum 5000 by the weeks end, preferably somewhere over 6000.  I check my emails before I begin the day.

What's this, two emails from myself? I vaguely remember sending them ha.  I open them up, they are links to published papers. Ok.. interesting... let's see if they at least have some kind of relevance to my research at least ha.  Interestingly enough, they do!  So much so in fact that that they are actually two of the most beneficial papers I have in my possession!

Wow, I can really use this stuff!

Long story short (after procrastinating until about 3pm), I left home at around 7pm with an impressive 1100 words written, bringing my total to a much more admirable 3500 words.

Now that's how you write a thesis!

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